House Passes Bill to Restore Haiti TPS Amid Deportation Fears

The United States House of Representatives passed H.R. 1689 with bipartisan support, a bill requiring the Secretary of Homeland Security to designate Haiti for Temporary Protected Status (TPS). The legislation acts as a companion to S.4814, which remains pending in the U.S. Senate. The move follows the termination of TPS for approximately 330,000 Haitians under the administration of Donald Trump, a decision affirmed by a federal district court on August 5 and a June Supreme Court ruling.

In New York City, Mayor Zohran Mamdani urged President Trump in a phone call to restore the protections, citing the community's importance to the city's economy and welfare. The expiration of the program on July 27 has already led New York City to terminate more than a dozen employees, primarily within the hospital system, whose work permits expired. This loss of status has triggered staffing shortages in homecare facilities and nursing homes.

The Department of Homeland Security defended the expiration, asserting that the TPS program had been used as a de facto amnesty program. Meanwhile, advocates and city officials warn that the loss of status creates a humanitarian crisis, as affected individuals face potential deportation to Haiti, where the State Department warns of extreme instability and violence.